40 degrees never felt so nice

Grand Forks Travel Blog

After a week of below zero temps, including -20 F on Tuesday, today's high temp of about 43 F felt wonderfully warm. I had been cooped up in the basement all day doing my research and decided I needed to go outside and enjoy the weather! Who knows, it might not be this warm for another month!

I had no plan - just walk around campus. It was warm, but there was a brisk wind making the windchill feel below freezing. Good thing I had my hat and gloves. I walked into the wind for a block and then turned north. I decided to walk over to the Ralph Englestad Arena so I could take some pictures and put up a review. That was another 4 blocks or so north, not too bad. It was a little icy from the melting snow but still a nice walk.

Sioux logo on arena floor

I had to cross a main street before the parking lot to the Ralph and as I got to the other side, I noticed a funny sign painted on the sidewalk. It was instructing you to look left, right and left before crossing the street. How appropriate! It seems many college students forget this lesson learned in elementary school and just step out into the streets assuming traffic will stop for them. Not always the case on snowy and icy roads.

I walked around the arena looking for an open door. There was a women's hockey game taking place and the game was being announced through loud speakers to the outside. For the whole two people (including me) I saw outside. We found an open door and went in.

Sitting Bull statue

The first impression of the arena corridors is, WOW! It is beautiful. Nice, shiny granite tile floors, clean and artsy brickwork, lots of UND banners and pictures, trophy cases and big metal gates to keep you out unless you have a ticket. The gate was guarded by two security personnel wearing crisp, green sport coats. I asked if I needed a ticket since the game had just gone into overtime. They said no, and I wondered why they were even needed there.

I walked in and found a seat to watch the overtime period. There were plenty of open seats - really nice, cherry wood seats with leather seat cushions. The center ice has a big warrior logo, for the Fighting Sioux, and the girls were skating around.

Sitting Bull state and front of the Ralph

No one scored in OT so it went to a shoot out. I decided to walk around some more. At each of the main entrances, a large Fighting Sioux logo was inlaid in the grainte tile floors. A few concession stands remained open but I wasn't hungry. Just for fun I stopped in the bathrooms and was pleased to see tvs in there so you don't miss any of the game while you wait in line. I completed my circuit, popped in for the shoot out - we lost -and then left.

I got a few pictures of the front of the arena with the statue of Sitting Bull atop a horse. And then I walked back to school, passing some students making snowmen. I wished I had time to play in the snow. Instead I took a few pics of the building where I spend the majority of my time - Leonard Hall. I must say it is a pretty cool building from the outside. Sure it looks like every other institutional building, but ours has geological pictures on it! We have dinosaurs and a wooly mammoth and an erupting volcano in our brickwork!

This actually took place on Sat. Jan 31, but I felt like making a separate entry because the topics were so different.